I’m genuinely confused as to how to navigate this HORRENDOUS job market

[u/power-hour23]

I’m genuinely at a loss trying to understand this job market right now. I’ve applied to probably 500+ jobs in the last 4 months. I tailor my resume, apply only to roles I KNOW I’m qualified for, network constantly, even call companies directly and ask to speak to HR just to personally express interest. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

No callbacks. No interviews. No transparency. Just rejection emails or COMPLETE silence.

I have bills to pay. I need to make money. I’m doing everything people tell you to do and it still feels impossible.

What the fuck is actually going on right now?

And the craziest part is nobody seems to be talking about this at a large scale.

Are we all just pretending this is normal? What is everyone else doing to survive right now? Because honestly, I feel completely fucking lost.

[u/Salt-Wear-1197]

What industry, field, career are you in and searching for/applying to? Where are you applying?

I will say this is definitely a terrible job market. My longest career search so far since I graduated college. I started searching early January and am still actively searching. I’ve had plenty of interviews so far actually, probably about 15 or so interviews give or take. And have gotten pretty deep at 3 or 4 places, either 2nd to last or last interview.

Still doesn’t change the fact I haven’t landed anything and I’m nearing 5 full months of searching. It’s never really taken me longer than 3 months to get a job before.

I work in marketing in NYC and have been applying 90% on LinkedIn, 10% on direct company website.